


Lost and Found

by KarasuNei



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-30
Updated: 2016-09-30
Packaged: 2018-08-18 18:11:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,128
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8171017
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KarasuNei/pseuds/KarasuNei
Summary: When Jack and Gabriel found an abused coyote pup named Jesse McCree, they were forced to send him back to the criminal gang Deadlock as their pack behaviours did not mix.Jack was attached and torn, but Gabriel had a different solution to it.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you @orenjimaru for giving me ze blessing to write something for your [marvelous art](http://orenjimaru.tumblr.com/post/150595099740/jack-gabriel-reyes-where-have-you-been-why) ; w;
> 
> I hope y’all enjoy dis!!!

                “You _can’t_ take him away!” Jack spat, ears placed flat against his skull, tail whipping and fangs baring in fury, “You saw how terrible his state was! _Christ!_ The kid was abused! And Deadlock are _criminals_!!! Theirs is no place for a child!!!”

 

                The same reasons were given. In the same monotone, same lack of emotion. That there was no proof of Jesse being abused, that life on the road was rough, injuries like that happened all the time. That Jesse was a coyote whilst Jack and Gabriel were both felines. That the pack behaviour didn’t match. That Jesse had to be returned to Deadlock due to pack hierarchy.

 

                _Bullshit_.

 

                Jack was honestly tempted to beat the council black and blue, consequences be damned. If Gabriel was here, that temptation would turn into reality, and both of them would get sacked. Would be worth it, though.

 

                …But then it would only give them more excuses to say Jack was “unfit” to be Jesse’s guardian.

 

                The pup was…put upon when he was told of the news. Disappointed, yes, but not unexpected. Jesse wasn’t crying like Jack thought he would and that, above all, cut into the snow leopard’s heart like a million pieces of glass.

 

                “It’s a’ight, Jack. It’ll be ok.” Jesse put a too-small hand on Jack’s cheek, patting the straining jaw softly. And the smile that he gave the snow leopard was pained, innocent and far too old for a pup like him to have, “Thank ya for tryin’.”

 

                Suddenly, it was Jack who wanted to cry.

 

                The cuts and bruises on the pup barely healed when the decision came through. They didn’t let Jack escort Jesse to Deadlock in the end. He only had the chance to say goodbye. Jack watched as the car carrying the coyote away until he could no longer see it, knowing that Jesse’s big brown eyes behind the cold window would haunt him for the rest of his life. Anger and depression bubbled in Jack’s chest, seething and suffocating as he stood there petrified.

 

                Gabriel didn’t come back from the mission two days later. The council deliberately sent him off, know the panther would have caused a lot more trouble if he was by Jack’s side. The snow leopard played by the book. Reyes did not.

 

                And he was _furious_ upon hearing what happened. Jack downtrodden mood only added fuel to the fire.

 

                “Gabe, please don’t make this harder than it already is.” Jack pleaded, even when the fire of his anger hadn’t died down behind blue eyes. Obviously Gabriel disagreed.

 

                “It’s fucked up and you know it! Kid ain’t gonna survive out there! Not when he’s bite-size and especially not with _that pack_! Fucking assholes!” He hurled a chair at the opposite wall, voice growing louder and louder in his rage, “Fucking _knew_ I shouldn’t have taken that fucking mission!!! Son of a bitch!”

 

                “Gabe, _please!_ ” Jack’s fingers trembled where he had threaded them through his hair, tugging at the strands almost to the point of ripping them out. Just like that, Gabriel stopped, but it didn’t end the horrified torrent of thoughts coursing through Jack’s mind.

 

                _What had he done? Why didn’t he do more? Oh God, Jesse!_

 

                For the next week, neither of them touched the subject, but it lay tender and bleeding between them, that much Jack knew too well. The snow leopard was distracted, detached from the world and he drifted about base, doing things that he normally did, just without any thought or emotion. Like one of Torbjorn’s machines, he operated and hardly rested. Jack barely felt Gabriel’s grip around him, tightening night after night, but he felt the sighs, keen and troubled against golden nape.

 

                It seemed like time would simply pass by and Jesse would not just magically reappeared, scraped up but grinning that crooked grin of his and his brown eyes freed of the burdens that weighted down a brutal childhood. It wouldn’t happen, Jack told himself, and the pain wouldn’t disappear even if he was given enough work to break his neck under. Days passed by slow and aching like a splinter stuck under his skin, prickling his nerves at every turn.

 

                Gabriel’s sudden absence spiked it up worse. Could have been an emergency mission, but the panther _never_ went anywhere without telling Jack of it first, at least with a call or a text. Nobody at base knew where Gabriel went either and even though Jack knew it was irrational of him, anxiety reared its head, snapping at his frayed mind like a hungry snake. One day turned into five, even Ana had to make a concerned remark about how much paler and sick Jack looked. And he was only a hair away from demanding a search party when Gabriel finally marched back, dishevelled but triumphant.

 

                 Jack flew at the panther’s face.

 

                “GABRIEL REYES!!! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!?! WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME OF YOUR MISSIO-oh, _lord_ , is that Jesse- what happened to Jesse?! Why is he all bruised, are you o-??”

 

                “I’m alright, dad.” Jesse’s voice was soft, but his expression was serene. It cut through Jack’s rambling and the leopard zeroed in on the coyote pup, shaking a little.

 

                “Wait, _dad???_ ” His own voice was faint in his ears, fingers inches away from touching a huge bruise on Jesse’s cheek. Rage would have erupted, but shock kept everything frozen solid.

 

                “Gabriel told me I can call you dad now…” There was uncertainty in the pup’s eyes now with just an edge of swirling fear. Like he was afraid Jack wouldn’t accept him. The leopard had to bite his own lip to prevent a sob from escaping, arms slowly weaving themselves around both Gabriel and Jesse. The panther pulled him in the rest of the way.

 

                This time, Jack did let out a sniffle, “Gabe, you didn’t-…”

 

                With his face against the crook of Gabriel’s neck, Jack couldn’t see, but he could practically hear the panther rolling his eyes, “Oh, I _so_ did. I even did all the paperwork for you.”

 

                The crash of those words was sudden, but it wasn’t unpleasant. It was the complete opposite as warmth exploded in every cell of Jack’s body. The snow leopard squeezed both Gabriel and Jesse against himself, laughing deliriously at this feeling of impossible happiness. Jesse’s little feet and elbows digging into his sides, small pointed ears tickling his chin and trapped tail thumping excitedly…all of that reminded Jack that _yes_ , this was all very real and _no_ , he didn’t even care how Gabriel managed it.

 

                The panther’s chuckle ruffled his hair, gun-calloused fingers stroking behind his ears affectionately despite the oozing sarcasm in his voice, “Oh, now I don’t get the priority of order in welcome-back kisses?”

 

**Author's Note:**

> Visit my Tumblr for more Blizz trash: [Nei Karasu](http://neikarasu.tumblr.com/)


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